By Emmanuel Mwendwa

Just days after the colourful Kalasha Film and TV awards, local film directors were off to Zanzibar International Film Festival (Ziff) held between June 27 and July 4.

Even as the Kalasha awards showed local films were ready to compete internationally, the Zanzibar festival proved otherwise.

Kenya was represented at the 12th edition of Ziff by only four films — Paul Ekuru’s The Dance for Wives, Payday directed by Charles Kuria, Victor Njuguna’s Twisted and Mona Ombogo-Scott’s Unseen, Unsung, Unforgotten.

But unlike in previous festivals, none of these productions made impact. Two years ago, during the 10th edition of Ziff, French movie company Pretty Pictures acquired the world rights (outside Africa) for Bob Nyanja’s comedy Malooned.

The theatre where the festival takes place. Photo: Courtesy

Pretty Pictures had also snapped up the remake rights to the screen-play, whose plot is built around a couple stuck for three days in the lavatory of a Nairobi high rise office building.

Prior to the deal, Malooned had scooped the Silver Dhow award at the festival.

Pretty Pictures unveiled plans to trim the comedy’s running time from 105 minutes to about 85 or 90 minutes — a move that would further entail renaming the film.

"It is immensely refreshing to see a modern, comical and sophisticated Africa setting in a metropolis, rather than the typical village-set storyline," James Velaise, a Pretty Pictures label official, said.

The Ziff fete, staged at varied venues across the picturesque island, focused on the theme Enduring Links: Media, People, and Environment.

Celebrated movie director, actor and political activist Danny Glover was in attendance as a special guest. His film, Toussaint, featured as the festival’s toast.

Glover is best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the best-seller action movie, Lethal Weapon.

That his latest production Toussiant was showcased at Ziff could be a pointer to the flagging fortunes of the regional event.

More significantly, Glover’s presence in Zanzibar was widely seen as a strategic move by event organisers to give punch to the festival, which is gradually losing glamour.

And for the first time in Ziff’s history, the fete hosted four feature films directed by African women. The directors are from Zambia, Uganda, Sudan and South Africa.
At least 24 African directors and eight directors from various international film festivals could not resist the magical lure of Stone Town.

Homegrown productions

But in keeping with tradition, Ziff is dedicated to showcasing home-grown East African films besides providing a platform for less known and unknown film directors to exchange notes with accomplished producers.

A record 52 films were submitted from Africa, while the international entries registered 27 movies from Europe, South America, Middle East, US and Asia.

East Africa had at least 24 films shared out among Sudan, Rwanda, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.

Entries from Tanzania included seven Kiswahili titles, a trend indicative of untapped possibilities in indigenous languages.

The productions were Risasi Kidole , Siku ya Kustaafu, Kiwiliwili cha Moto, Mawazo , Najiuzulu , Mtego wa Panya and Usipoziba Ufa.

This year’s entries ranged from low-budget, short-films such as Ugandan director Suuna Peter’s X to long-range feature productions. Southern Africa also made inroads at the festival, garnering 17 slots — mainly from Mozambique, Namibia,

Music concert

Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lesotho and South Africa.

There were seven West African films from Senegal, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. Egypt and Algeria shared five productions, representing North Africa.

Central Africa had only one slot for Mon Histoire... Papy (My History... Papy), from the DRC.

There were surprise submissions from Iran (Rough Cut) and Palestine (Lesh Sabreen).
The international films slot featured movies from Brazil, Germany, US, Poland, France, Bahamas, Spain, Italy, UK, the Netherlands, Australia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, India and Romania.

Several entries bore somewhat intriguing titles — A Crack in the Wall from Namibia, Zimbabwe’s I Want a Wedding Dress, Cameroon’s Congo My Foot and Love in the Time of Gum from Egypt.

Besides the movies, Ziff also holds live musical concerts and an art exhibition.

This year’s musical segment adopted thematic dimension of the annual Reggae Sunsplash of Kingston, Jamaica.

Kenya’s Wahu was among musicians who staged performances at the Stone Town podium.

Her single, Sweet Love, thrilled revellers. The musical toast was Ivorian star Seydou Kone aka Alpha Blondy.